The Company You Keep (2012)

A former Weather Underground activist goes on the run from a journalist who has discovered his identity.

Director:

Robert Redford

Writers:

Lem Dobbs (screenplay), Neil Gordon (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Redford	...	Jim Grant / Nick Sloan
Shia LaBeouf	...	Ben Shepard
Julie Christie	...	Mimi Lurie
Susan Sarandon	...	Sharon Solarz
Nick Nolte	...	Donal Fitzgerald
Chris Cooper	...	Daniel Sloan
Terrence Howard	...	FBI Agent Cornelius
Stanley Tucci	...	Ray Fuller
Richard Jenkins	...	Jed Lewis
Anna Kendrick	...	Diana
Brendan Gleeson	...	Henry Osborne
Brit Marling	...	Rebecca Osborne
Sam Elliott	...	Mac McLeod
Stephen Root	...	Billy Cusimano
Jackie Evancho	...	Isabel Grant (as Jacqueline Evancho)

Storyline

A former Weather Underground activist goes on the run from a journalist who has discovered his identity.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Taglines:

You can't escape the past

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Genres:

Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 December 2012 (Italy)

Also Known As:

A hallgatás szabálya

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$131,718 (USA) (5 April 2013)

Gross:

$4,130,751 (USA) (10 May 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Voltage Pictures, Wildwood Enterprises, Brightlight Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 125 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of 2013, the cast includes four actors (Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper and Julie Christie) who have won Academy Awards and five others (Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins, Nick Nolte, Terrence Howard and 'Stanley Tucci') who have been nominated for Academy Awards.

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Goofs

When Ben gets in his car after talking to Henry in the restaurant, we can hear that he typed five letters on his computer but two hole lines appear immediately after.

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Quotes

Ben Shepard: Thank you for talking to me.
Sharon Solarz: Thank you for listening.

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: Trance (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Traitors Gate"
Performed by Billy Nomates
Written by Tristan Lambeth and Bob Farrell

User Reviews

Dull Company

In the wake of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, it's only appropriate that we should get a generic political thriller to remind us of one of the US' earlier international farces: the Vietnam War. 'The Company You Keep', directed by and starring Robert Redford (yeah, he's still alive), is that thriller.

Redford plays Jim Grant, a widowed lawyer and father who gets exposed by investigative journalist Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) as a former member of Weather Underground (Google it) responsible for the death of a security guard during a botched bank robbery. Forced to go on the run, Grant must dodge the police as Shepard starts to doubt whether Grant is actually guilty of the guard's murder.

Seeking to combine a chase movie with a detective story, the film is bogged down by superfluous characters, caricatured villains, and a third-act that feels more like a soap-opera than a suspense picture. I wouldn't go so far as to say the film has a bad script, but it does have a clunky one. What makes this even more egregious is that 'Company' is filled to the brim with great veteran actors such as Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Julie Christie, and Susan Surandon (to name a few…), which almost always indicates that the producers have less faith in the script than they do that a Justice League film will actually be made (we all know it won't).

I don't want to make out that this was a bad film, though. In its own unambitious and minor way, it's reasonably entertaining. It could be argued that the actors alone are worth the price of admission. But I can assure you of one thing: when you leave the multiplexes after seeing this, you'll be hard pressed to remember even the last minute of it.